Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most prevalent, and third most fatal type of cancer presently diagnosed in over a half-million people, and which is on the increase globally (Fong et al. (1999) Ann Surg 229(6): 790-800). Local treatments, which include surgical resection, liver transplantation and radiofrequency ablation, are considered as a first choice for the treatment of HCC. With improvement in these techniques, there has been progress on the early-stage therapy of HCC. Radiofrequency ablation has a demonstrated benefit for early-stage disease, and it can be performed in patients with impaired liver function due to cirrhosis. However, many HCC tumors have highly malignant phenotypes, which aggressively recur after local ablation even if they were discovered at an early stage and have a very poor prognosis. Sorafenib is the only drug having a proven modest clinical benefit and approval as a systemic therapy for HCC. Therefore, development of a novel treatment approach for HCC and other Asparatyl (asparaginyl) β-hydroxylase (ASPH)-expressing solid tumors is urgently needed.